Woodroffes has extensive experience acting for clients in the hotel and catering industry from the planning, construction and start up of some of the world's finest hotels to bars, restaurants and nightclubs across the UK.

Our Hotel and Leisure team is cross-departmental and multi-displinary drawing on the skills of our lawyers throughout the firm. We offer a complete legal solution to the busy restaurateur or hospitality entrepreneur or more established hotelier at highly competitive rates. We have close working relationships with a range of professionals in other disciplines across the industry and our knowledge and familiarity with the needs of the hospitality market help to ensure smooth and seamless inter-disciplinary co-operation on the client’s behalf to reach a quicker and more efficient solution. This in turn enables the busy client to devote more of his time to operating his business and less to chasing his advisers.

Whether our client is seeking advice with regard to the extension or development of an existing bar, the acquisition of a new restaurant venture or the construction of a brand new hotel, we are ready to offer sensible commercial advice on all aspects based upon our long experience and understanding of the particular needs and circumstances of the hospitality industry.

We are proud of our contributions to a large number of leading hotel and restaurant businesses including:

• the acquisition, financing, construction and leasing of the Baglioni Hotel, Hyde Park Gate
• the site acquisition and construction of the Kingsway Hall Hotel Covent Garden
• the management of the MyHotels group
• the management and development of the Trieamain Group which includes the Michelin starred Harwood Arms
• numerous leading restaurants and bars across Central London and further afield
  
  For the busy restaurateur or hospitality entrepreneur, whatever your aspirations, we recognise that not only will you need to keep tight control of your legal budget but there are at least 101 tasks that seem much more pressing than talking to lawyers. We use all of our experience to make dealing with legal and compliance matters as painless – maybe, even pleasant – as possible, including helping you to identify your legal priorities (i.e. those legal issues which need attention from the outset and those which may be dealt with later).
  
  Our team can help with all aspects of your business helping you to manage the legal risks associated with your business as well as bringing our experience and expertise to add value to the decisions you make. Some examples of the types of work we typically handle are outlined below.

• acquisition of premises;
• setting up a company and arrangements with investors such as shareholders agreements;
• contracts with employees and consultants as well as compliance with applicable employment legislation;
• contracts with suppliers including operating agreements;
• protecting your brand including advice on trade marks and domain names;
• advertising, PR and marketing agreements and sales promotions, including e-mail, SMS and web based marketing;
• publishing agreements;
• web site design, build, operation and host agreements;
• procurement of computer systems including booking systems and customer relationship marketing systems.

Some transactions recently handled by members of our team include:

• drafting terms between a Michelin starred chef and an international branded hotel group for the establishment of branded restaurants within the hotels;
• acting for a rapidly expanding fast casual restaurant group in relation to the procurement and implementation of its online computerised ordering system and the outsourcing of its nationwide logistics;
• advising a university on the outsourcing of the operation of all its campus food and beverage outlets as well as the marketing, promotion and delivery of its catered private events;
• advising a growing restaurant chain in relation to the terms and conditions of its online competition and sales promotion.